The windows closed with a click. Noah glanced around the office. Let’s take a look…
If Kyle had been here, he’d probably have acquired everything of importance. Noah was only following after him in case the meticulous man might have missed something, which was near absurdity. She pulled her universal key out of her pocket and approached the nearest drawer. At the same instant, the door, which had been shut, burst open. Noah immediately thrust the key back to her pocket, clicking her tongue, and turned around.
“Mrs. Leonard?”
The voice didn’t belong to the previous employee who had guided her to the room, but Donalian Culton, the owner in Maobiana mine.
*
“The map and mining location of the Maobiana mine.”
Donalian Culton appeared as a tough man, sporting thick black glasses.
“The minerals from Maobiana are 90% of the Mane Ore, 8% copper, and 2% of the remaining 2% of the gemstones. Most of the ore is traded by Laurent’s Minister of Magic. I have organized the rest of the distribution channel in this file.”
“Well, thank you, but I’m not here to buy Maobiana, I’m visiting you for an undeveloped mining project.”
Donalian enthusiastically pushed Noah into the Maobiana archives. “It’s much better to take in an already developed mine than to dig up a new mountain range!”
“Yes, but…”
“Madame, in addition. As you already know, the mountains behind Maobiana are not only difficult to mine because of their rugged terrain, but most areas are already banned from mining as ordered by the Ministry of Magic a few years ago. Because it regulates the amount of Mane Ore. So you’d better not take risks. There’s already a mine with excellent facilities!”
“That’s it, by the way. It’s kind of weird.” Noah eyed the data she had received from Donalian with a suspicious look. “It’s not a deficit all year, and if you have a mine that’s been in the boom for decades, your grandson will live on a cushion of money for the rest of his life. Is there a reason you want to sell the mine all of a sudden?”
“That’s…” Donalian stuttered as Noah’s gaze fixated on him, beginning to sweat profusely. Noah frowned, and soon realized a probable explanation. “Oh, because of the recent disappearance of that mine slave group?”
“Yes…”
“Can you explain exactly what happened? Of course, I’ve heard from my husband, but I’d like to hear more about it directly from Mr. Culton.”
Disappearance of miners and illegal acquisition of the Mane Ore— it was harder not to associate the two events. When Noah had arrived in Novischosha, she only assumed that there was conflict in the mining stocks, but seeing the owner in front of her, wiping away the beads of sweat that trickled to his eyes, it seemed unlikely.
Besides, if Donald Culton was really the one who was stealing the powerful ore, he wouldn’t be willing to hand over Maobiana to anyone else when he was still not out of the play. In that case, it would be more correct to assume that there were other parties involved with the smuggling of the Mane Ore, and that the miners were involved in the process.
After a moment’s silence, Donalian carefully opened his mouth. “The first time it happened was early last month. Maobiana, as Madame already knows, is a little different from other mines. There’s a huge, unmeasurable lake beneath the mountain range, so the deeper you dig, the closer you get to the underground lake. Now, if you look at this map…” Donalian explained the cross-sectional structure of Maobiana with his hands.
“The lake has been dug deep enough to show up. When it rains, the water sometimes overflows, even with an automatic machine pumps the water out. In addition, the miners worked hard to ensure that they would not fall below the mine. Since my grandfather’s generation, I’ve been running a mine, and I’m sure there’s really only five of them that lost their lives. But since last month… And one by one, the miners who went under the mine went missing. Some of them were found dead in mining walls and lakes.”
“…How many?”
“So far, forty-three people have been missing, and eleven bodies have been found. According to the remaining mine slaves from Maobiana…” Donalian gulped down his dry saliva. “At the bottom of the lake in the mine, it seems like a monster lives.”
“A monster?”
Why was a monster suddenly involved? It was absolutely far from Noah’s presumptions.
“Do you know why Maobiana is among the mountain ranges of Noviscosha and why such rare ore can only be found there?”
As if to tell a huge secret, Donalian’s voice dropped.
“Maobiana is known to have had a dragon’s cradle in ancient times, even before Laurent’s founding.”